world without end
by strawberriez8800
Summary: Jack/Tooth — Jack understands, perhaps all too well.


_Note: Just watched RotG, and couldn't help but write a short fic~  
Note2: Set just after the movie ends._

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**world without end**

_Jack understands, perhaps all too well._

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In the midst of the rowdy party, Jack sneaks away undetected from the other Guardians who are engrossed in a story North is telling. He lithely dodges an oncoming yeti carrying yet another large platter of delicacies and slips through a large doorway, the oak door clicking shut behind him.

Jack lets out a relieved sigh as he finally escapes the chaos that is North's idea of a celebration feast. Or perhaps Jack is the one who is not familiar to it all. Everything is new to him now, especially after centuries of being invisible to the world.

The winter spirit navigates through the factory of children's gifts, pushes open a window and swings up to the roof. The blast of cold air is a welcoming embrace that Jack is all too acquainted with. He smiles and closes his eyes, lays his enchanted staff beside him as he basks in all the glorious, perpetual winter that is the North Pole.

Even over the rushing wind that sends snowflakes tumbling in a current, Jack can still hear the muffled noise of partying going on downstairs, and he finds himself thinking about Pitch, and all that went spiraling down with him as the hole swallowed him up back there.

It's almost ironic, having Jack Frost the lone spirit on the top of the world, quite literally, and Pitch Black who's essentially just another lonely spiritual entity who yearns for friendship and respect, another being that's just like Jack, down in a pit somewhere.

But Pitch is fear, and fear is instinctively avoided by all. Sometimes, Jack wonders if he did the right thing by helping to defeat Pitch, because he understands, perhaps too well, what Pitch stood for.

"Jack."

His eyes snap open, body about to pounce in defense, but then he sees Tooth and relaxes. "Hey, Tooth," he greets with an easy grin.

The fairy smiles back, her cheeks flushed from the cold. She settles down beside Jack. "I see you still prefer the quiet," she says, gazing out to the horizon, made invisible by the white sky meeting white snow.

Jack turns to look at her, and can't help but notice the striking contrast of her bright complexion of emerald mixed with sapphire and gold against the stark backdrop. "I guess three hundred years worth of solitude isn't going to vanish overnight."

She laughs softly, and it sounds like the chiming of bells Jack used to hear as he perched over some church on silent nights. "A loner at heart, huh?"

Jack shrugs. "Can't help it. It's all I'd ever known before all this…Guardian versus Pitch thing."

Tooth smiles warmly at that. "It was thanks to you we defeated him, you know."

He looks away, feeling what seems like guilt and shame. He knows he shouldn't feel that way, but there's no helping it. "We didn't just defeat him, did we? We also cast him to the corner of the world, trapped in his own eternal nightmares."

"Jack—" Tooth begins.

"I'm sorry," he cuts in hastily. "Forget what I said, alright? I know I shouldn't feel like I did a bad thing or whatever, because you and Bunnymund and the others were almost destroyed by…" He pauses, because the more he continues, the more he realizes he isn't making things better.

"Jack, listen to me," Tooth says intently, placing a firm, comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's okay if you feel guilty about Pitch. After all, you used to relate to a certain level. Just know that we did everyone a huge favor by chasing him away. He was going to take over the whole _world _with fear!"

"He was just trying to make a stand after being shunned by _you _for who knows how long," Jack snaps before he can stop himself. "Everyone has a right to do that. Pitch just went about it the wrong way." Stupid. _Stupid_. Arguing with a Guardian is no way to start his own career of one.

Tooth turns away, eyes downcast, perhaps in shame and disappointment in Jack. He wouldn't be surprised if she _was _disappointed. "If you want to be a good Guardian, you shouldn't keep be saying things like this. Others may take it the wrong way."

"What, so being a Guardian means being a sheep and never standing up for your own beliefs?" Jack retorts, voice going colder than frost. "Isn't that the opposite of what you're supposed to represent to children?

"It's not being a sheep. It's called knowing when to keep your opinions to yourself," she replies, defensive.

Jack scoffs derisively. "You know, I'm starting to think that the boogeyman's the one with the backbone."

Tooth frowns at him, violent eyes piercing and accusing. Jack is expecting her to yell at him, or slap him, but all she says is, "You'll understand in time. Goodbye, Jack." With that, she leaves the winter spirit and rejoins the other Guardians inside.

Jack gazes at her retreat and sighs, pulls his hood up and lies back, feeling like he is alone in the world all over again.

It's the one thing he understands, perhaps all too well.

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_Note3: The writing's not as up to par as usual because I wanted to get this out ASAP, but hopefully they are both in character enough :) Jack strikes me as someone who takes no shit from anyone and stands up for himself, so hopefully he doesn't appear like an ass here. Comments would be appreciated :)_


End file.
